St. Louis Cardinal Fun!

Earlier in the year, we had signed up Matthew & Jacob to be in the Cardinals Crew Kids' Club. One of the benefits of being in the club is that they were invited to an end-of-year Fiesta at Busch Stadium. That Fiesta was this past Saturday! So...we headed to St. Louis early Saturday morning and met Paul & Kristi (my brother & sister-in-law) at the Pujols 5 restaurant in Westport Plaza for lunch. What a fun place. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take any photos. (Scrapbook girlfriends...you'll appreciate this...my husband went back in to the restaurant to pick up a coaster...he thought I might like it for our scrapbook! I did not even ASK him to do that...he thought of it all on his own...can you believe it???)

After lunch we headed downtown to Busch Stadium, Gate 5, at the Ford Plaza area. The party consisted of players signing autographs, a Tony LaRussa Q&A session, free food & drinks, & a 20% off coupon for the Team Store. We listened to Tony LaRussa for a while, then stood in line and got one autograph...Brad Thompson (pitcher)...Matthew got his hat signed on the outside, and Jacob got his signed on the inside of his hat. Other players that were there were Adam Wainwright (his line was VERY long), Josh Kinney, Russ Springer, Ryan Franklin, Jason Motte, Kyle McClellan, Brendan Ryan & Chris Perez. I did get photos of the backs of some of the players...they were just a few feet away!

After that we headed to the Team Store there at the Stadium and we bought each of the boys a little momento...Jacob chose a leather keychain with "Pujols" on it...Matthew chose a bracelet with "Pujols" on it. Are we Pujols fans or what???

After the party, we headed back to the van to rest for a while. We had free tickets to the game that evening at 6:15. We were in Big Mac Land! We were handed foam French Fries to wave, bumper stickers with "BML" on them, coupons...and more coupons. We had a great time...the Cardinals won 8-5. We got to see another awesome Pujols homerun, and two other homeruns...I can't think of who they were...and lot of hits from both sides. It was a great game. Glad the Cardinals won! Great memories!

I'll post a couple of pictures tomorrow...I've got to get back to my Bible Study for Thursday!

Tuesday, September 23rd

Wanted to share a few photos of my brother, Paul, and his wife, Kristi, on their recent trip to the Northeast...Maine, Nova Scotia, and I'm not sure where else. The pictures are just beautiful.

This morning I took Jacob to Dr. Hoffman's for his 5 year checkup. He asked yesterday if he would be getting shots, and I said no. It didn't even dawn on me that he would be getting 4 shots...as the nurse quietly told me as we got there this morning...since his birthday falls in September this will be his last annual check-up before kindergarten. Jacob's little face just looked so sad when I had to tell him this news. Poor little fella. He did great though...it's just always so difficult to see your own child in pain. A little trip to the hospital gift shop to purchase a new little stuffed elephant really seemed to help! He has really been milking it though this evening...and I don't think he really even knows what "milking it" really means! He would hobble down the hall so that Matthew would help him and he wanted me to carry him to the van, and things like that. It is such a relief now that it is over. We won't have to worry about shots now for several years!

A Quote to Share

I just read an awesome post on www.lisabearnson.com/blog about a family sharing the household chores. If you get a chance it's a great one to read...the author is the founding editor of Creating Keepsakes magazine and a leader in the scrapbooking industry. I wanted to share a quote that a daughter of hers shared:

"Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to do that day which must be done, whether you like it or not. Being forced to work, and forced to do your best will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know." Charles Kingsley

Many times I get so caught up in the things that need to be done each day that I don't ever really think about what life would be like if I had absolutely NOTHING that had to get done each day, no responsibilities, nothing. I know, I know...every once in a while it would be really nice (!!!)...but for all the time...life would probably get pretty boring. Just something to think about...

Priceless!

I forgot to mention in Jacob's birthday post about his soccer game Saturday. Jacob doesn't care at all really about scoring a goal...he just kind of runs with the pack of 4 and kicks the ball when he can. He's just happy to be able to play! Well, Saturday, he kicked a goal in and scored! It was just priceless...he turned around and just looked at us and smiled...like he was in complete shock! It was just so darn cute! Something I will never forget!

Happy 5th Birthday, Jacob!

It is just so hard to believe that Jacob is 5 years old today! We spent a good portion of the day at the soccer fields while Rob had to work yet another Saturday! Jacob is such an amazing little boy...he just loves life and you can tell it! We love you, Jacob!

These are are few of the things that Jacob loves right now:

~ playing Monster Trucks on the Wii
~ riding his 4-wheeler at the farm
~ playing soccer
~ he loves the tv shows Franklin, Arthur & Curious George
~ playing with Matthew
~ going to the farm with Daddy & Matthew
~ being read too
~ going to pre-school
~ riding his scooter

Gas Craziness!

On the 5:00 news tonight, there had been rumors that gas prices were going to go up drastically overnight due to the hurricanes. I didn't think too much of it. I left to go work at Pizza Pro, then at 6:30 headed to a meeting at church. The gas stations were completely crowded. I thought...Hmmmmm...I'm NOT going to stop and get gas...I had a quarter of a tank. After my meeting it was around 8:15, I made a quick stop at Walmart, then headed home. One of the gas stations was at $4.09, one was $3.47, and the other $3.69. When I got home, I talked to Rob about it...wondering if I should go and at least fill up one of our tanks. I decided to go and fill up the van...amazingly at Kidds I only had one car in front of me...but, while I was sitting in line the price on the sign went from $3.47 to $3.69! I thought, man what a bummer. But, when I went to pump my gas, the pump still said $3.47! So...we have one tank FULL of gas...just pure craziness!

Gotta LOVE an Early Fall Day!

Jacob & I are home today and we've got the windows open and the breeze is just blowing thru the house. The cats even love it...they have been sitting in windowsills all morning!

I'm working on cleaning our bedroom this morning. We bought a black, iron bed last year and I would LOVE to add some new pieces to that...BUT...we have to sell our old bed, dresser & dresser w/mirror on it FIRST! If anyone knows of someone that would like a nice bedroom set, please let me know. It's such a good feeling to get things cleaned out and organized! For some reason, our bedroom is usually the last thing I work on. I guess because no one usually sees our bedroom except for us!

Well...gotta go...Jacob is calling me to watch Mickey's Christmas with him!

Have a GREAT day and enjoy this nice, cool weather!

Trying to Play Catch-Up!

We've had lots going on since my last post! For some reason, I've not been in the blogging mood lately...hopefully that will pass! I'm going to share a brief recap of what we've been up to, as well as share a few photos:

~ I hosted our monthly crop night at our house...always a ton of fun.

~ We went to a birthday party and celebrated our little niece, Maria's, 1st birthday! Her mommy fixed her a simply beautiful ladybug cake...it was adorable. Check out the photos.

~ Rob started to take his 70 Oliver tractor that he has been fixing up for a couple of years now, on an antique tractor ride. He and a friend's ride was cut short when a Harley rider crashed and Rob & his buddy went to help him. The rider is okay, except for a broken leg, thank God.

~ Matthew was invited to a birthday party and had a blast. They had water gun fights and stuff like that!

~ Between Matthew & Jacob, we've had 4 soccer practices and 3 games since my last post. Yesterday, Matthew had an incredible game, scoring 2 out of the 4 goals that his team scored. He and his teammates really worked together passing the ball...not worrying about who scored. Jacob is just so happy to be playing...he doesn't care about anything!

~ My friend, Julie, hosted a crop at her church. A blast as usual!

~ Rob's been working 10 hour days plus Saturdays...he's a little cranky at times but still manages to spend as much time with the boys and me as he possible can. He has been going to soccer practices since they're in the evenings and since he can't make the games on Saturdays.

~ Today we served in the 3-year old nursery at church. We teach in there once every 4 weeks. It's not a big committment, but it has been one way in which we can give back for all the years our boys were in the nursery. We simply LOVE that three year old class. We had 15 kids today and they just did great...I actually think they "got" my Bible story...that is such a praise!

~ Today after church we headed to the soccer field for another game. After the game, we went to the park for St. Paul's back-to-school picnic. The boys had fun playing Plinko, trying to dunk teachers/principal in the dunking booth, jumping in the bounce house, etc.

Well...that's my recap...thanks for checking in and enjoy the pictures!